Together Forever (Noragami)
by KickinitMeow
Summary: Yato and Hiyori have a new problem on their hands: Fujisake. He has been terrorizing both of them, but what does he have planned? Also, will Yato and Hiyori finally get together? Or will they be pushed apart?
1. Don't Leave

Chapter 1: Don't Leave

"Ahhhh~.."

"Today is such a wonderful day! I was able to pass all of my final exams _and_ it's the first day of summer break! I have so many things that I want to go do, but I'll have to get a job first. Hmm... maybe I could be an assistant at my family's hospital. They'll need the help especially since Yato's father...That's right... Yato's father is Fujisake..!"

As Hiyori started thinking about Fujisake, memories of the triple date at Capybara came flooding back. Shivers began to run up and down her spine. It was a memory she wished she could forget, but it was as if she was cursed to always remember that he was the one that stole her first kiss. She started rubbing her lips profusely to try and erase the taste from her lips. She could still feel that horrible Fujisake's lips against hers and she loathed it.

"Why did it have to happen? Why me..?"

She sulked at her windowsill, looking outside at the birds that were playfully chasing each other around a tree. They were so carefree and happy, whereas Hiyori was now depressed and agitated. She wondered why she had let it happen to begin with. It _was_ rather sudden, but she didn't pull away either. Was she just so shocked at the incident that she was unable to respond? Or was she secretly wanting Fujisake to kiss her? Her face contorted in disgust. No, that was definitely NOT it, so what was it? She buried her face in her arms and sighed. There was so much confusion in her head that she wanted resolved. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Raising her head, she looked back out the window and wiped a tear that had begun to fall down her cheek.

"Yato," She whispered. "don't ever leave me again..."

More tears formed and began flowing down her face. She tried wiping them away as fast as she could, but they wouldn't stop. She hated herself for almost forgetting about Yato. Plus, she let his father kiss her on a date at Capybara, regardless if she was forced to go or not. She felt like she betrayed him and didn't even have the guts to face him anymore. He knew about the kiss already, but the hurt in his eyes when he found out was too much for her. He trusted Hiyori and she let him down.

"I'm so sorry...!" she sobbed.

"For what?"

Another voice answered her and she looked up to see blue eyes that pierced into her soul. She froze completely breathless and thoughtless at the sight of him sitting in her window. Yato has caught her in the middle of crying her eyes out.

"N-Nothing.. I'm just a little-"

A little what? Emotional? Unstable? What could she possibly say to save herself from this?

"It's not nothing if you're balling your eyes out," he responded jumping out of the window. "Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Hiyori was trembling at this point. She didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to spill her guts out to him either. He wouldn't be able to help her understand any of the questions she had in her head that kept tormenting her. She took a deep breath.

"I'm just extremely confused about a few things and I let them get to me, that's all."

Yato leaned to Hiyori's level and looked at her with his stunning blue eyes. He seemed to be analyzing whether what she had told him were true. It wasn't necessarily a lie, but it wasn't the entire truth either. She just hoped he wouldn't press any further into the issue.

He let out a big sigh, "Fine, it looks like you don't want to tell me, so I'll leave it be. But, there's no reason for you to let it get to you so bad that you're crying about it all by yourself. If you can't tell me, then go talk to your friends or somethin'"

She wiped her eyes free from the remaining tears and looked up at Yato. He wasn't looking at her anymore, but fixating his gaze off in the distance to avoid eye contact. He looked really hurt and it was showing, even though he was trying to hide it. Hiyori felt horrible. She wanted to tell him, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings more by reminding him about Fujisake and that she was having questions about their kiss. It shouldn't of happened, both of them wished it didn't happen, but it did. She needed to figure it out herself before talking to Yato about it so she could reassure him that there was nothing going on nor intended. Still, that look crushed her. She wanted him to be happy and go lucky like he always was, before all of this happened. What could she do?

"Yato..."

His gaze reached Hiyori's as she reached into her pocket.

"I have a wish, but it's a pretty big one."

Yato looked at her confused when she took out two 5 yen coins. She took a step closer to him and grabbed his hand, placing the two yen coins in his palm.

"I don't ever want you to leave me like that again.." she whispered.

He blinked with both happiness and confusion, "I won't and I don't intend to again, but..." he took the second yen coin out of his hand and held it in front of her. "What's with the second coin? You know a wish is only 5 yen."

"I know, but there's a second part to the wish."

His eyebrows raised in interest, "Go on."

"I want you to uphold your part of the promise and go to Capybara with me," she managed to squeak out.

Yato looked at her in surprise of the request, then smiled with amusement and chuckled. It was hard to turn down an offer to go to his favorite amusement park, one which he had been wanting to go to for a long while. He tossed both coins into the air, catching them before they fell and looked at Hiyori with extreme happiness.

"Your two wishes have been heard loud and clear!"

She smiled at the child-like expression he had on his face. His face beamed with so much excitement it began to rub off on her. Although, she was more excited of the fact that she was able to make Yato smile again; something she hadn't seen in quite some time. It had been awhile since she had seen him last, too. Before today, he had stopped always watching her like he used to, texting her every five minutes when she wasn't around him, and even stopped harassing her for food. As much as it annoyed her before, it wasn't until now that she realized she actually enjoyed it. It made her feel cared for and brought joy to her heart.

"So Hiyori~" Yato gently sang. "When are we going?"

Of course he would ask and since Hiyori offered, he was probably expecting her to pay. It kind of irritated her, but it was the least she could do after everything that's happened.

"So where's Yukine?" she asked.

"Oh, he's training with Kazuma still. He's been going everyday."

"When will he be able to join us?"

Yato placed his thumb and index on his chin, "Y'know, I'm not sure. We could just go without him and take him next time!"

He gave Hiyori a quick wink that she nearly missed. _Does he mean a date?_ She could feel her face rise in temperature as she began to blush. She couldn't let him know that he could do that or he might take advantage of it. Before he noticed, she turned her back to him and looked in her wallet. She didn't have much money.

"Umm.."

Yato looked over her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

"I don't have much money. We'll have to wait to go until I get a job."

His face turned into sheer terror, "We can't wait that long! Plus, I don't want you to get a job! I won't get to see you as much!"

"Whether you like it or not, I'm going to get a summer job and since we don't have the funds to go to Capybara we'll just have to wait!"

"What if we split the cost?!" he begged. "I don't want to wait!"

Hiyori looked back at her wallet and calculated everything, "Are you sure you could afford it?"

"Of course! Now let's just go already!" he complained dramatically.

Seeing how he was acting, she couldn't help but laugh. The happiness just burst from within her and she had to let it out. She held onto her sides as she kept laughing and laughing. Yato looked at her almost insulted that she was laughing at him, but when he saw how happy she looked compared to earlier, he couldn't help smiling and joining her. He wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. He was determined to make sure that nothing could bring her down and if something did, he'd deal with it himself. That included his father. He didn't know exactly how he was going to do it, but he wasn't going to let his father harm Hiyori or her family anymore.

A few hours later, Hiyori and Yato finally made it into Capybara Land. Yato had his hair tied back and was wearing light blue jeans with a white T-shirt. Hiyori, on the other hand, was wearing a cute long pink flowered tank top that almost looked like a dress with cute black shorts underneath. She also had her hair up in a messy bun because it was a pretty hot day. She watched as Yato stood in awe of the amusement park, looking at everything and deciding what to do first. His eyes sparkled with happiness as he grabbed Hiyori's hand and began dragging her to the first ride: a roller coaster.

"We have to make sure we pose for the picture they take!" Yato gleamed.

"What for? Besides, how will we know where they take the picture at?" Hiyori asked.

"Well, I figured we could get a copy of the picture and you'll be able to see the camera before they take it."

Instead of pressing any further, she just agreed even though she knew that they wouldn't be able to spot the camera before the picture was taken. It was still a cute gesture on his behalf though. She figured to just let him enjoy himself, especially since she had already been here, whereas he hadn't. He deserved to have a good experience.

"Hiyori! We're next!" he cheered.

It wasn't long until it was their turn to get buckled up and ready to go. Yato's excitement ceased to amaze her. He was kicking his legs and singing about being at Capybara. It was shocking that someone who had been alive for thousands of years would find this much joy in a simple amusement park. Then again, he probably didn't have anyone to join him either.

The ride started to move and they were off on their first ride. Yato shouted and cheered as they began to climb up the chain to the top of the hill. Once at the top, he put his hands up in the air and woohoo-ed all the way back down. He was laughing with so much joy that Hiyori joined in on his fun. She threw her arms up in the air too and screamed with him until the ride was over. When they got off, he immediately ran to the photo station, where they sold all of the photos taken on the ride. He analyzed all of the screens and pointed at the one that they were in. As soon as she caught up to him, he had already purchased the photo and shoved it in her face.

"Look, now we can remember this forever!"

Hiyori smiled and looked at the picture that was taken of them. She was caught off guard, however, because she noticed that Yato had put bunny ears behind her head with one hand and a thumbs up with the other, while giving a wink up at the camera.

"How did you-?"she asked confused.

"I saw the camera and posed. It looks like you missed it though."

She sighed in disbelief. Apparently she did. It was still shocking that he was able to see the camera _and_ pose on top of that.

"Come on! We've got more things to do!"

Through out the day, Hiyori was dragged around the entire amusement park. They rode more rides together, got a picture with a Capybara, had some ice cream, and even went into a photo booth. Yato was having the time of his life and she was so happy that she could be there to experience it with him. She had never seen him so happy as he was today.

As it got later, everyone started getting lined up for the parade. Hiyori was extremely nervous at this point due to the memories that began to flood back. She wished that her first and only time here was with Yato so she could remember this place for their experience, rather than what happened with Fujisake. Tears started to swell up in her eyes and she did her best to try to conceal them by holding back as much as possible or wiping them away before he noticed. She couldn't avoid the parade and she knew that, even when she wanted to at all costs, but it was something Yato had been looking forward to all day. Ruining it was the last thing she wanted.

When night finally arrived, the parade began. They had gotten spots as close as they possibly could. Yato's eyes sparkled as the floats and lights went by. He kept pointing out the ones he really liked and asking Hiyori which ones were her favorites. She smiled and went along with it as much as possible and continued trying to hide the tears that wanted to pour out. About halfway through the parade, she couldn't hide the tears anymore. She started to cry, unable to stop them no matter what she did. Although he didn't notice at first, when Yato turned to ask her what she thought of the dancing Capybaras, he saw Hiyori in tears. He didn't realize that she was suffering so much so he could have a good time. He quickly grabbed her and escorted her out of the crowd that surrounded the parade. Once they were out of sight of everyone, he sat down with her at a vacant bench. For a little while, he just let her cry as he held her for support. He felt bad for making her go through this and even felt worse that even though she was in tears, he was kind of happy for it. She obviously hated that it happened and that made him feel relieved, but he didn't like the fact that it made her upset. After a few minutes, he lifted her head so she was looking at him. Her face was completely soaked from all of her tears and wiped the ones that were falling from her face.

"Hiyori, listen..."

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

He raised his hand to stop her, "I understand and it's ok. I just want you to know that I don't hold what happened with... _him_ against you. The fact that you didn't want it to happen is all I needed to know," he hugged her tightly. "I don't want you to feel bad anymore."

"Thank you, Yato," she sobbed.

"Now, wait here. I'm going to get a few napkins for you. I'll be back," he said as he left.

She watched as he ran to find a concession stand, leaving her alone. At least it was a nice summer night and it wasn't cold like it had been. She reached up to let down her hair that had been up all day when she heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. Frightened, she turned and looked back, but didn't see anything. When she finally turned back around, she was met with someone standing in front of her, holding their pointer finger to her forehead.

"Bekko."

And that was the last thing Hiyori remembered of that night.


	2. Secrets

Chapter 2: Secrets

"Bekko."

Hiyori's vision faded and her body went limp. She tried to fight the numbing sensation that enveloped her entire being, but fighting it was pointless. By the time she noticed, it was too late. Her spiritual form was forcefully being pulled from her physical body and she was losing her consciousness. Who was doing this to her and why?

Falling to the ground, she was a phantom, unconscious and weak. The strange boy that did this to her, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. With a quick survey of the surroundings, he darted into the bushes carrying Hiyori along with him. Not long after their disappearance, Yato came running back with some paper towels he went to get to dry off Hiyori's tears, but when he got back he noticed that she was, what appeared to be, passed out. Smiling, thinking she may have been exhausted, he walked over to her, slowly bent down and began patting her face dry. The more he dabbed her cheeks, he started to realize how limp she was.

"Hiyori?"

Yato grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her gently. He didn't get a response so he shook her harder.

"Hiyori? Hiyori?!"

Still nothing. He got up and looked around the area, hoping she had just wandered off somewhere, but when he couldn't find her anywhere or sense her nearby, he started shaking with anger. Something else had to have happened to her if she wasn't anywhere close. Yato clenched his fists and grimaced. His anger began to build rather quickly to where he could feel his blood boil beneath his skin. Whoever did this was going to pay for it and if anything happened to her, no one was going to survive his wrath.

About an hour later, Hiyori started to wake up. Everything was blurry at first and she could hear muffled whispers in the distance. She tried to listen closely to see if she could make anything out, but her head began pounding if she focused to much.

"Ow, where am I?" she whispered.

She began to sit up, but it was more of a struggle than she would have thought. Both her legs and arms were tied up with ropes. The more she tried to move, the more the ropes would cut into her skin. It burned more than the average rope, leaving blight on her body where they touched. They must have put a curse on them to be able to do that. She was eventually able to sit up and she looked around her surroundings. It was hard to see because it was so dark. What she did see was that she was sitting inside of a cage that people would normally put lions or other dangerous animals in. Was she viewed as some kind of threat?

"Hello?!" she called out. The voices that she was barely able to hear stopped in response to her call. She waited for a second before she took in a deep breath to shout louder.

"HEL-!"

"We heard you the first time, no need to blow out our ear drums!" she heard a voice at the end of the cage grunt.

"Who are you? Why did you capture me?"

She heard keys jingle and a quick metal clinking noise. The person behind the voice had entered her cage. She still couldn't make him out because the darkness until he approached her. The man that had approached her had smoothed back hair like the stereotypical guy had in the fifty's. His eyes were a glowing green that pierced through the darkness and straight into her being. He looked to be in his early 20's and was wearing a leather jacket and pants with a white T-shirt underneath.

"Are you a regalia?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No, I'm just like you."

Hiyori was confused for a brief moment until he reached behind his back and pulled out a green tail which was just like hers. She stood there in disbelief seeing that there were other people just like her. When he let go of his tail, it disappeared into him, something she had never seen before.

"How'd you do that?"

He smiled, "You'll find out soon enough, but first, let me answer your first question. My name is Masao."

He reached out his hand in a halberd and cut off the ropes that continued to blight her. Once the ropes were off, he motioned her to follow him. She was hesitant at first, but eventually did as he said. She was brought to a well that was filled with water. Masao cupped his hands into the water and poured the water onto her wrists and ankles. The blight immediately faded away. Hiyori rubbed her wrists with the relief of the pain being gone. There was nothing that could be compared to what blight felt like.

"Sorry for that, we just had to make sure you wouldn't rage out on us, but I'm fairly certain you won't after what we tell you," Masao said sincerely.

He lead her into an open room with dim lighting. She could make out several figures of the room, about 5 of them. Were they also like them? When they made it to the center of the room, she could see everyone more clearly. Three of them still had their tails out, where as two of them did not. They all looked at her with worry, as if they were scared of her. Masao immediately put his arm around her and cleared his throat.

"This is Hiyori. She is also a phantom who is lost. Please welcome her and make her feel accepted. This is a place where phantoms can feel at home and work together to solve our dilemma," he announced.

The other phantoms all got small smiles and replied, "Welcome, Hiyori."

Masao pulled up a chair, allowing Hiyori to sit down. She accepted the offer and noticed that everyone had surrounded her. They were all looking her over her as if they were analyzing who she was. One of them whispered in Masao's ear, which he responded with a shake of his head.

"Hiyori, are you ready to learn what we know?"

"Y-yes," she stuttered.

He gave her a big smile, "Good, let's start from the beginning. Do you know the history of phantoms?" 

Hiyori shook her head.

"That's okay. Phantoms have been around ever since the beginning of time. They are created when a living creature dies, but is saved from death's grasp, thus giving us the attachment to both realms. That's what our tails symbolize," he pointed to her tail. "That's the easy part that you probably already know. However, unlike today, people before used to know of phantoms and even respect them as demi-gods. Before, when someone became a phantom, they were idolized just like a god. It was believed that the person who had became a phantom was selected by the heavens to join the gods. In honor of these people, they would aid them in their quest to ascend."

"How did they know if they were phantoms? How did they help them to become gods?"

Masao chuckled, "You know of people known as psychics or having special abilities?"

"Yeah."

"That's how they knew, along with other signs. They were very intelligent in that department due to thousands of years of research. Which is how they were able to figure out how to help phantoms ascend to god level. It's a simple brew, much like a tea. They create the drink from the purple moon lotus, or the flower of the soul. It's extremely rare now, due to it needing very specific conditions to grow and reproduce. Not only that, but it was nearly wiped from existence."

"Why?"

"For two reasons. First, because if a normal human drinks the flower's tea or accidentally eats it, they die. When civilization moved more towards science, it was viewed more as a poison than a spiritual plant, so they tried to get rid of them. Second, because the heavens didn't want phantoms to be able to turn into gods."

"The heavens did this? Why would they do that?! They would be condemning phantoms to forever be connected to both realms!"

"They did it because they viewed phantoms who became gods as a threat to the balance of earth and heaven. It's because the phantoms who became gods still had a connection to earth, due to them being alive in the first place. These phantom-gods would thus take the followers of other gods because the humans knew that they had existed and would believe more in them than the actual gods. With this in mind, they waged war against the phantom-gods, killing all of them and then aided the humans in destroying the plant that aided the process of ascendance."

Hiyori was horrified at the thought that the heavens would murder out of what she considered jealousy. It was terrible in her case because even though she didn't want to become a god, it was still a way out for others that was taken from them. Did the heavens do this just in spite or was there another way to cure them?

"So, if this plant is gone, is there no way to fix this?"

Masao's face grew dim, "There is only one way and it's very dangerous and not preferred due to its risk."

"What is it?"

"You have to die again and be saved from death's grasp, but that's not easy. If you die a second time, your chances of survival are slim at best. Your first death, you have a 50% chance, which is risky on it's own, but a second time, your chance drops to about 10%. Plus, it's never been successfully done, but the good news is, the plant still exists."

"So, basically, risk dying and never coming back or search for this plant and become a god? And if the plant still exists, where would it be and how do we know it's there?"

"Exactly and that's why we need you. The plant was wiped out on earth, but it still exists in heaven. None of us here have that access, but you do. You're very close to Yato aren't you?"

"I only know him because he's supposed to help fix me."

"That's a lie, Hiyori. You're relationship is more than that, otherwise you wouldn't have been crying and him consoling you like he did. You two obviously care for each other more than just a business relationship."

Hiyori's cheeks began to pulse with how much redness appeared on her face, "W-we're just friends!"

Masao's reaction went from chuckling to a full blown laughter, "That's all that matters. You don't have to get so flustered over such a simple question. It'll make everyone think otherwise."

"O-oh... sorry."

He grabbed onto her hand and helped her stand up, "Seriously, Hiyori, if you help us, we'll help you. I can teach you how to be stronger in phantom form so you can protect yourself and other techniques like how to fuse your tail into you so you don't have to worry about it. So, will you help us?"

Masao looked deep into Hiyori's eyes, which made her feel weak. Before she knew it, she was nodding her head yes.

"Great! Now you better get back to your body, you've been out of it too long," he pointed to her tail. "Your connection is beginning to fade. We can't have you dying on us."

"Right."

"Also, before you go. You can't tell anyone about this, not even Yato."

Hiyori's heart stopped for a quick second, "Why is that?"

"Because you'll but all of us, including you and Yato in danger with the heavens. Trust me."

As much as Hiyori hated keeping secrets from Yato, she understood Masao's reasoning. She gave him a nod and then began heading back to her body. At least she was able to sense where her physical form is, otherwise she'd be lost.

"Hiyori! You're okay!" Yato shouted as she began to wake up on her bed.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry about that.."

"What happened to you? I was so worried! I couldn't find you and you were gone for a long time."

"I was-" she stopped herself. What could she say that would make sense. She couldn't tell him where she had actually been. "My phantom form just formed further away from my body this time. I got lost for a while, but I'm okay now."

Yato leaned close to her and stared into her eyes as if he was trying to find the answer within them. She could feel his breath on her lips and she felt her cheeks warm up fast.

"Yato, that's creepy!" she shouted as she shoved him to the floor.

"Ow! That was mean, Hiyori!" Yato pouted as he rubbed his head.

She glared at Yato for him trying to play the pity party on her when she saw her bedroom door fly open. Her shock immediately turned into relief when she saw Yukine standing in to doorway. He was panting from running up the stairs and was tearing up slightly.

"You're ok..." he murmured between his sniffles.

She got up and gave Yukine a hug which he returned tightly, holding his wet face against her shirt. Seeing him cry made her feel bad. She didn't realize how worried they were for her.

"I'm sorry you guys. I won't do tha-"

"Why does he get a hug, but I just get shoved to the ground?!"

"Maybe because you were being creepy!" she retorted.

Yukine pulled away from Hiyori and walked over to Yato giving him a quick knock on the head, "Why are you tormenting her when she just got back?!"

The two of them started bickering as usual causing Hiyori to smile and then start to laugh. She was happy that the two of them were in her life. She didn't know where'd she be with out them. If only she was able to tell them what had actually happened while she was gone...


End file.
